Neighbor: Place to Rent Out Spare Space

Neighbor Review:

Neighbor encourages anyone with an empty garage, storage shed, driveway, parking space or attic to sign up to rent it out.

How it works

Hosts sign up and describe the space they have to rent, including where it’s located, what type of space it is — i.e. garage, attic, closet, spare room, etc.

Rental rates are set by the host. But the site encourages hosts to set their rates at about half the cost of renting similar space from a professional storage facility. (Since your garage is probably not as secure or convenient as Public Storage, it’s likely that you’d get few bookings if you set your price above that range anyway.)

Then you sit back and wait for a booking.

Commissions and fees

If your space rents, Neighbor takes a 5% commission from the rental price. The site also imposes a sliding scale “service fee” on renters. (The percentage charged to renters used to be 15%. Now it can be higher for small rentals, and lower for higher-priced rentals, according to the company.)

Pay

Payments are made to hosts by direct deposit at the end of each month or rental term, whichever comes first. Although the pay is most likely modest, it’s a low-maintenance side hustle that can generate passive income in most months. You can sign up for Neighbor here.

Beware the risks

But there are some risks, too. If you need to cancel a booking at the last minute, you could face a $20 inconvenience fee. Boot a tenant before the end of the term or with less than 30 days notice and there’s a $60 host eviction fee. Finally, you can be held liable for damage to a tenant’s property, too.

The site encourages hosts to require a detailed listing of what’s being stored and to determine the condition that the items are in at move-in to protect you from false claims.

…About that insurance guarantee

The site has a guarantee that appears to cover losses to both the host’s and the renter’s property. But the policy is extremely limited. First, it’s “secondary” coverage, which only kicks in when your own insurance doesn’t apply. That would mean that you could be subject to your own homeowner’s deductible. Moreover, covering a claim at all is “at Neighbor’s sole discretion,” according to the site’s terms.

A guarantee that’s triggered at a company’s discretion, it’s not a real guarantee. That said, the other sites that allow you to rent out your property as storage space have similarly limited insurance coverage. Be sure to talk to your own insurance agent to make sure your policy will cover commercial (i.e. for profit) use of your space, if you do this.

Recommendations

If you like the idea of renting storage and parking spaces, also check out CurbFlip, and Pavemint. You can also rent your space for special events with Peerspace and Splacer.

Want to try Neighbor?

Click here

What their users say: (from an interview with SideHusl.com)

Josh Robbins has been a Neighbor host for just over two years — ever since he moved to Utah and bought a house with a four-car garage. The garage is segmented, with two spaces separated by a wall. He uses one side and rents out the other for $200 a month.

The first time he rented it, it was to a few BYU students, who wanted to store their stuff for the summer; now he’s rented the entire space to a client who has jet skis and ATVs. Since the entire space is rented, Robbin’s says the renter simply has the garage code and can go in and out at will, causing him no inconvenience. But even when the renters needed access, he says it’s been a low-maintenance side hustle.

“It’s a lot easier than tenants,” he says. “The thing about storage is that people put things there and don’t think about it until they come to take it out. There’s almost no work involved.”

*Updated 7/26/2022